How to file for divorce nz
How to get a divorce in NZ?
Timecodes:
hi everyone welcome to another facebook
live
with equal alexis and i'd like to
welcome kate shane again hi how are you
kate
hi bridget good thanks hi everyone
now now you've had at least 20 years
experience haven't you in this field
yeah i've been practicing law for a long
time feels like so
we're very knowledgeable i'm very
experienced so our topic today is
how to get a divorce in new zealand so
everything that you need to know we will
tell you in this facebook live won't we
yeah i mean a lot of people don't
actually know how to get a divorce so
that's kind of the purpose of today's um
like uh seminar is to is to inform
people on how to get a divorce in his
young
yeah and i think people don't realize
there's a two-year stand down in terms
of that either you know they
they um don't don't have any idea so the
first question is um from your
perspective where do people start
well i mean that's that's the thing
firstly to in order to get a divorce um
there's two there's effectively two ways
you can have a divorce it's like an
amicable divorce or there's like a
contested or a court contested divorce
so i think that's really the kind of
like the starting point for people to
know that
um even if it's even if it's amicable
you still have to go through certain
steps to get the divorce
so in terms of um the key aspect to this
um in terms of getting a divorce as
bridget said what a lot of people don't
know is you've got to wait
um two years that you've been living
apart or separated
um um and not domiciled in new zealand
um doesn't count either so if you're
overseas is technically an issue there
potentially as well so you've got to
actually wait a period of two years what
a question i've got kate is what if some
what if a couple have got back to each
you know have been with each other
during that period for a three month
period or
uh you know have gone backwards and
forwards
being with each other over that time
period
yeah well that's what's tricky is
because the court um the court will take
it from the technical date of separation
so if you split up and get back together
that's not the separation date you've
got to wait a bit longer in terms of the
time frame sometimes unless you can both
agree on the date if you both agree on
the date then that's that's fine because
you both agreed on the separation date
but it's got to be two years from that
date um before you can actually apply
for the divorce
and why do people need to get divorced
well people need to get divorced for
legal reasons as well as
the fact that they may want to get
married to someone else
you can't actually legally get married
to someone else if you're not divorced
so that's one reason
the other reason is just because of um
legal reasons such as somebody owning a
house um
and then wanting it to go to the
children and not to the ex-partner and
so you need to technically get a divorce
and change the world so they're kind of
the two main reasons and some people
just want to move on with someone else
so that's generally what happens
yeah okay so
tell us more about that about the
process of that in terms of getting a
divorce yeah well so basically to get a
divorce um some information is available
on the family court website of how to do
this or the ministry of justice website
i think on how to do it so there's a
there's a few steps that you need to go
through so perhaps i'll
um summarize the the steps and then um
go through each one so the first one was
the two-year one which we've just just
raised the second one if you've got
children involved you actually need to
agree on the care
of the children
and um you need to have like what's
called a parenting plan
and the court net must be satisfied that
the arrangements are suitable so it's
not just suitable to you
when you file for the divorce you have
to file any parenting or cure
arrangements
uh that you've got between you and any
parenting plan with the court so that
the court is satisfied that the
arrangements are suitable so that's kind
of the second step so that's where it's
really important that you do some kind
of parenting
plan by agreement or mediation or try
and reach agreement with each other and
you need to do that through the likes of
yourself
or myself as well we do parenting plans
too so
that's right we help people or they can
reach their own agreement it's it's
really up to them but there are tools
available for people to do it themselves
they don't have to have a lawyer in
place for that parenting
stage but it is helpful uh to get advice
before you sign up to any legally
planning documents yeah absolutely
in relation to that step
so so how do you apply for a divorce
so
basically you've got to apply to the
family court um for a divorce
so
you can either apply together i.e
jointly like a joint application
alternatively one of you can apply for
the divorce um
and that would be
what's called like a contested divorce
where somebody doesn't want to get
divorced but the other party does
want to get divorced so you still have
to apply to the family court and you've
still got to follow each of the steps
along the way
so
perhaps the next step which is like step
four which is probably the most
important step which people need to deal
with
is to divide any relationship property
or separate property so they actually
need to have
a
section 21
agreement generally that's um
represents a fair and equitable split
and division of relationship property in
order to get your divorce that's really
what the courts are saying
so everything that you own and owe you
know everything that you own and i needs
to be sorted out because the court may
not grant the divorce if you haven't
gone through the step so
you need to go through the steps
required in order to obtain the divorce
from the courts and this is probably
like the most contentious and the most
difficult step for people to kind of get
over if it's contentious and not by
agreement because
one party might want something and the
other party might want something else
and it's just a matter of reaching
agreement between each other
as to how you're going to split and
divide up the property
so
it does actually have to be by agreement
so when you do the affidavits and file
the application you actually have to say
whether you've agreed
um or not and sometimes you've got to
provide the agreement to the court as
well
uh in order for the court to actually
um decide whether to dissolve the
marriage
and grant the divorce
um
yeah
and and if people can do that process
around a kitchen table
um after you've had both had some legal
advice and then you agree on the split
of that and then obviously get your
lawyers to sign off independently
on that agreement is the best way to go
or if you can't do that by yourselves
then um get a mediator involved go to
mediation because the last thing you
want to do is to be going to court you
know the emotional toll the time it
takes and the cost
uh is just huge
that is and i think agreement is the
best method even even if you don't agree
on in on everything if you agree on some
things at least we can reach agreement
on some items and then you're only left
with the major items left to try and
resolve so
even if you at least do partial
agreement or partial mediation that
still helps
in trying to resolve the division of the
property issues so
it's a really important thing a lot of
people don't know about this until they
come to get divorce and then they find
out about it so
it's just good that people know that
this is like the process that you have
to go through
um and it really is like a process in a
step-by-step
kind of
process to get where you want to get to
which is to get the divorce
yeah well let's talk about what
relationship property is
uh you know there are questions for
example like is my
is my ex's inheritance am i going to be
entitled to that for example
yeah well relationship property is
tracking this is why you need legal
advice effectively before signing these
agreements off um
to give each party um
there's two ways you you do it you first
of all you decide what is the
relationship property and you decide
what is the separate property of each
person
so you you have to decide that first and
then depending on that um it all goes
into like what's called a pool of
relationship property and then you kind
of split or divide it up depending on
how you wish to do that either by
agreement
um or alternatively if you can't agree
by mediation if you agree to that or
alternatively by the court so you want
to try and reach agreement if you can um
on what actually comprises the
relationship property um
and people uh some things that people
think um are not relationship property
or channels actually are like the dog is
a good example
bitcoin
um
paintings um artwork things like that
can be considered to be
relationship property so it's quite
important that you actually seek advice
on what is relationship property and
what is separate property i think that's
a big distinction people think just
because it's mine it's not the the other
the other persons but that could
actually be
not the case turn out to not be the case
and so you need to get proper advice on
that you can be educated absolutely
before you sign anything off it's
prudent you know i have some clients say
well we don't think we need a lawyer to
sign off on our lawyers plural to sign
off on our agreement but at the end of
the day you just never know what's going
to happen in the future and it's prudent
to do that absolutely prudent well
that's right and you should you should
be knowing what you're signing up for
giving up in terms of value as well i
think that's quite important like
if you're conceding something you need
to know what the approximate value of it
is or if alternatively if you're getting
it in your favor you also
need to know what it is because
it could be economic disparity arguments
or
financial disadvantage arguments run
after the event so you need to know what
you own and what you owe as bridget
always says
that's my favorite line and i think that
because it's very you know it's very
costly and time consuming to um
to um undo a settlement agreement isn't
it you know
yeah it's a lot harder to do that after
the event it's much easier to try and
just request the information and assess
the position at the time and there
should be some form of financial
disclosure there needs this needs to be
like um
it's not it's not been dealt with very
well but people need to disclose all of
their financial um you know assets
debts and liabilities
when you're doing these agreements
because you need to you need to know
what you're signing up for if you don't
know what you're signing up for there's
a chance that the agreements can be
overturned
so it's really important
in these cases that that is done or
requested and your lawyer should inform
you to request some form of financial
disclosure
yeah
last thing you want to do is have to go
to um court for discovery
following friends yes that's right it's
just expensive um and people
people will hide money so to speak in
trust or companies or
vehicles or things like that but
it really doesn't go to your advantage
it's more to your advantage just to
disclose it and then try and put a value
on it rather than
not disclosing it at all
so the next step really is that the
judge looks at the application don't
know what what happens from there
yeah so once you've actually if you if
you're doing it by agreement once you've
lodged your application which requires
an application and an affidavit which
needs to be sworn in front of a lawyer
and once you've done that the judge will
assist the application and they'll
either issue a dissolution order
um and not require you to attend court
so you can do it by agreement that you
don't have to go to court and the
registrar and or the judge will look at
the application and issue the order but
if it's only one party divorce and the
other party doesn't agree then you may
also have to attend and appear before
the registrar and or a judge
on your application
and they might may ask you questions
about your application before they will
issue any
court orders or dissolution orders
what sort of questions will they
potentially ask kate
well i think they did the judges
generally ask about the care of the
children i think that's number one um
whether you've got a suitable
arrangement and i think they also ask
have you managed to divide your
relationship property properly because
they don't want to grant the divorce if
they're still uh you know issues to be
dealt with there so i think those are
the kind of the two aspects that you
need to be clear on when you go and
apply for a divorce in the courts in new
zealand
is there anything else that people need
to consider
when they're going through this process
um
well the other thing that you've got to
get is a marriage certificate as well if
you if you've been married you also need
to um request one from the birthday
samaritan's um
website or online site and pay for that
because you've also got to provide that
with the affidavit um to the court a lot
of people miss that out and then the
application gets rejected and then
you've got to resubmit it so
that should also also be provided with
the application to the court
um and just generally i mean
i think seeking legal advice
it doesn't have to be it doesn't have to
be expensive you can do some of these
steps yourself if you know what it is
that you've got to do that that's the
thing and if you go through the steps um
involved it doesn't have to be really
expensive it can actually end up being
cost effective
but if you don't go through the steps
and there's hurdles along the way that's
when it becomes a bit more costly and a
bit more expensive for people
so what what what happens in terms of
the scenario where
you're divorced but you want to keep
your married name
um well that's an interesting one
because i think that you can do that do
that because your name is effectively
changed on the birthdays and marriages
registrar and it's up to you as the
person who changed the name in the first
place to change it back so um
there can be a contentious point
sometimes and some people don't want to
change their name
but it's quite cool
yeah
to make someone do it you'd have to
probably get a cool order when you're
applying for the dissolution of marriage
perhaps perhaps ask the court for a
direction and or order that that person
changed their name but it's very
difficult tricky thing to enforce
yeah that's it well kate thank you very
much for that really informative 20
minutes today on how to how to get a
divorce and everything you need to know
about it if you would like to connect
with uh kate or myself do contact
equilixes who you can contact kate kate
how can people get in contact with you
yep people can just email me kate
katesheen.co.nc
i've got a website you can do online
booking for consultations as well or you
can contact me through bridget and
bridget does give me some referral
matters so that i can actually help you
try and reach agreement on any parenting
orders in relationship property issues
so that you can actually get a divorce
yeah wonderful so we will be back next
month
with another topic that is really going
to help many people if you're going
through the process do it do reach out
we're always happy to help thanks
everybody
thank you everyone
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